Court orders parole for Andrew Osantowski

Andrew Osantowski could be freed from prison next week after the state Supreme Court overturned prior decisions and reinstated his parole release.

Osantowski was sentenced to 4-1/2 to 22 years in prison for threatening an Columbine-like attack on Chippewa Valley High School in Clinton Township in 2004. The state Parole Board ordered him released after he served his minimum sentence in March 2009, but a Macomb County judge halted the release and was upheld last June by the state Court of Appeals.

On Wednesday in a 6-1 vote, the high court said the parole board did not abuse its discretion in granting parole to Osantowski, 23, who is in Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson.

"The decision to grant parole was based on evaluation of objective criteria established by Michigan Department of Corrections policy directives that were required by statute, and was within the range of principled outcomes," the justices said in its order.

"It was the best Thanksgiving ever," the Clinton Township woman said. "Our family is just ecstatic and thankful for the good news. The six justices ruled without hearing arguments."

Her son, she said, "is very, very happy, and surprised."

She said she was told by McCowan that he will be released "one day next week."

Dissenting judge Robert Young Jr. indicated he wanted to hear a full appeal.

Osantowski and his father, Marvin, were thrown into the national media spotlight in September 2004 when they were arrested in connection with Andrew's plot, which resembled the attack at Columbine High School years earlier. Police found rifles, ammunition and partially made pipe bombs in the Osantowski home in Clinton Township. Osantowski had been identified by messages he sent to an Internet chat room saying he might kill fellow students at his new school.

Osantowski went on trial in June 2005 and was convicted of threatening an act of terrorism, using a computer to threaten terrorism as well as weapon charges.

In his first chance at parole, the board determined Osantowski would not be a risk to the public. But Macomb County Prosecutor Eric Smith challenged the release in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens, and Judge Richard Caretti reversed the board's decision, saying the panel "in fact did abuse its discretion."

In upholding Caretti, the State Court of Appeals agreed Osantowski had an excellent work record in prison and had participated in numerous programs and therapy. But it said the board relied too much on conduct. It said a state Department of Corrections assessment showed troubling scores for criminal thinking, mental health and other categories.

Marvin Osantowski was accused of knowing about the items. Marvin Osantowski, who spent 29 days in jail, was sentenced to 18 months probation after pleading guilty to one count of concealing stolen property.